Soviet Naval Mission Assignments. Part 2. Pro-SSBN Mission: The SSBN-Protection Mission

This study is the second in a series of seven to present the evidence available from Soviet naval and military writings of the existence in the Soviet naval mission structures of a second new nuclear-era mission along with strategy strike by SSBNs that for protection of these SSBNs while out of port. Importance is attributed to this mission by Soviet military and naval writers as well as the implications for the relative priority accorded to SSBN-protection with respect to other significant Soviet naval missions. The initial look at each of the missions taken in preparation for this project suggests that the SSBN-protection mission would be either number one in importance or among the top three. Once all of the remaining studies of the ten possible Soviet naval missions for a general nuclear war are completed, it should prove possible to list the SSBN-protection mission with some confidence in priority order with regard to the other nine missions.